The Guelph Storm managed to walk away with one point in their home opener of the 2017-18 regular season.
Although Guelph did not walk off the Sleeman Centre ice as the victor’s in Friday night’s game, the Storm looked much better than they have in years past.
Alexey Torophchenko, Liam Hawell and Cam Hillis all scored for the Storm, but all three goals would be answered fairly quickly by the Sarnia Sting.
During the overtime period, fans inside the Sleeman Centre saw the hope of an overtime game-winning goal ripped away from them, as a shot by this year’s 2nd Overall OHL draft pick Tag Bertuzzi was called back after it originally hit Sting goaltender Justin Fazio in the facemask.
Following the 5-minute overtime period, it went to the shootout where the Sting would get goals from three skaters, while Guelph could only record a single shot past the opposing goaltender, resulting in the Sting taking the first game of the season with a 4-3 final.
Some of the few positives to take away from this season opener was the hunger the team had in the opening period. Toropchenko scored the opening goal 2:52 into the first on the powerplay and even though the Sting answered back near the end of the bracket, Liam Hawel answered right back for Guelph.
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Goaltending may still be something to keep a close eye on for the Storm this season, however, Anthony Poppovich, who got the start between the pipes Friday night, looked better than most games last year. Poppovich faced 24 shots, saving 21 of them even when the Storm faced a 5-on-3 Sting powerplay.
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Guelph continues their opening weekend with a stop in Windsor Sunday afternoon when they take on the reigning Memorial Cup Champions, The Windsor Spitfires at 2:00 p.m.
Tune into 1460 CJOY for full coverage with every Guelph Storm game this season.
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